Jeff Lowe

“I mean any fool can hurl themselves at a climb that is beyond their abilities to safely negotiate. You may get away with such an approach nine times, but the tenth time you don't come back.”

“I think part of my business problems stemmed from a feeling that I had to be more than a good climber, that I had to do something more 'meaningful.' And that may come from my father.”

“We as mountaineers have had a leading role in the destruction of the mountain wilderness environment that we practice our sport in.”

“It's dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. The greatest risk of injury is knocking off a piece of ice with your pick and having it fall on your forehead.”

“It went way beyond just sex with Catherine. It was more like recognizing a time of shared destiny of our souls. We were both born to climb, and we each glimpsed the possibility of the perfect partner in the other.”

“I have always felt that no climb is worth losing the tip of a little toe.”

“I may have had some symptoms as early as 1998 - dizziness, vision problems, balance. Anyway, it's been a progression, it hasn't stopped since I first noticed it. Each year there is a considerable decline.”

“The kind of climbing I like is fast and as free as possible of gadgetry.”

“I used to think aging was a scam, a total abdication of your self. Well, aging's not a scam, but quitting is.”

“Hunters get lost all the time. There's just an outcry against climbers because a lot of people don't understand climbers and they think they're crazy.”

“I've always pushed my body way too hard, gone days without eating at 20,000 feet, and caught every exotic bug that didn't kill me.”

“I was great at testing products at 20,000 feet, but talking them up to buyers? No, not really.”

“My awareness left my body and ego, and went on a grand tour of the cosmos.”

“Climbing is a cross between an athletic or sporting endeavor and the spiritual. I hope it remains that way.”

“Being willing to risk it all for any given climb will inevitably end at some point in disaster.”

“The idea of metanoia returns again and again in my life. The purpose of life is to see what you do when challenges come your way, and the value in that experience is seeing how you handle those challenges.”

“Sometimes I spent more time planning a climb than doing it.”

“For me there's no future. All I'm interested in is now.”

“Climbing is wildly diverse, ranging from the rock-climbing wall at the local health club to the cutting edge of major Himalayan Alpine ascents.”

“You can base your life in fear or you can base your life in love. Fear leads to negative results even in times that are basically good. On the other hand, love powers the universe.”